Jong Ja Jenkins of Hernando, FL and Stony Brook NY passed away with loving family by her side under the wonderful care of Vitas Hospice in Lecanto FL on May 1 2020 at the age of 89.
Jong Ja was born in Seoul, Korea to the late Bon Sun Byun and So Sun Ko. She worked for the Associated Press in Korea as a translator before leaving Seoul for the U.S. with her late husband Gary H. Jenkins, whom she met during the Korean War. They married in the Church of Sweden in Seoul and came to the U.S. via his hometown of Wichita KS and shortly thereafter moved to New York City.
She worked for American Express on Wall Street before becoming the mother of 5 children within 10 years. During this time she and Gary moved to Long Island to raise their family, where he ran the Seawanhaka Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, Long Island and later the New York Yacht Club in Newport RI. They settled in Stony Brook, LI, NY where Jong Ja attended Stony Brook University to study fine arts and worked part time as a floral designer in Stony Brook Village.
Over the years, she became an accomplished artist showing her abstract work in oils, acrylics, and sculpture at Smithtown Arts Council, North Fork Bank, Gallery North, Huntington Arts Council, and Guild Hall in East Hampton, Long Island. She was also published in the New York Art Review, and the New York Times featured an article on her work in the East End section. She was a member of the Guggenheim Museum and MOMA of New York. She enjoyed day trips to the city to visit galleries and museums with her various art organizations in the Three Village area on Long Island.
Upon Gary’s retirement, they moved to Citrus County where she enjoyed volunteer work as a member of the board at the Ocala Art Museum, and as a greeter at the former Ted Williams Museum, and floral design instructor at Withlacoochee Technical College. She was also an active member of the Citrus Art League and Citrus Watercolor Club, and continued to show new works, consistently winning awards in two new media: photography and computer art at the Central Florida College in Ocala, Rainbow Springs Art Festival, Inverness Chamber of Commerce (among other venues) in her later years. She enjoyed solo group travel for the first time in her late 60s and early 70s after Gary passed suddenly at the early age of 66 on April 25, 2000, one year within his retirement to Hernando. She told me when my father died, that her “world ended.” But she found the strength to continue onward and she eventually travelled to the Bahamas, Paris, South of France, Prague, Florence, Siena, Tuscany and other European towns and cities along the way and continued her involvement in the Citrus and Marion County arts community.
Her beautiful smile, talent, and kindness touched everyone she met. Jong Ja is loved very much by her immediate and extended families, many friends, neighbors, and co-members of her art groups, and will be missed very much. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. As her daughter, I learned through her life on this earth the meaning of true love and the importance of commitment and working at something for yourself as a woman regardless of the traditional roles as wife and/or mother. As my mother, she was a true artist, a strong, courageous independent spirit that lived an incredible journey from Asia, to the U.S., to Europe, and continues onward to new realms. She remains lovingly in our hearts forever.
She is survived by her daughter, Lisa, and son-in-law, Giancarlo Lasio; sons Andre (Debbie), Keith, Marcus, and Reuven (Leah) Jenkins; grandchildren Ryan, Jocelyn, Xander and one great grandchild; and dear companion Yana Bartsch along with her daughter Natasha and Baby Lucy.
A funeral mass will be offered for both Jong Ja and her husband Gary on Monday May 11, 2020 from St. Scholastica Catholic Church in Lecanto FL at 2:00PM with Father Jojo Tejada, Celebrant.
A Celebration of Life will be postponed until later in the year due to the current health advisories. The Chas. E. Davis Funeral Home of Inverness, FL is assisting the family with cremation care arrangements.
Arrangements are under the care of Charles E. Davis Funeral Home, Inverness FL.
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